When Pepsi Got It Right: 10 Best Ads
10 of the brand's best ads, from 'The Pepsi Generation' to now.
After the controversy of last week's Pepsi ad starring Kendall Jenner, we look at 10 times that the soda brand created awesome and iconic ads, starring everyone from Jackie Chan to the Spice Girls.
1. Pepsi: Cindy Crawford, 1992
Agency: BBDO NY
What's that sound? It's the collective noise of ten thousand's young boys and girls' sexual awakenings as Cindy Crawford came to a rural town for a can of Pepsi, creating an ad so iconic that Pepsi revisted not once but twice, most recently in emoji form.
2. Pepsi: Generation Next, 1997
Agency: BBDO NY
The list of names who turned up in a The Pepsi Generation or Generation Next is like an alternative Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame, including everyone from MC Hammer to Kylie Minogue. A definite higlhight, however, is the spot featuring the Spice Girls, perhaps the most '90s ad ever to happen.
3. Pepsi Max: Unbelievable Bus Shelter, 2014
Agency: AMV BBDO
Although Pepsi remain best known for their star-studded spots, they aren't afraid of trying something a little new. Most impressive of all was their bus shelter stunt, which used augmented reality to turn the street around a bus shelter into a CGI-fuelled apocalypse.
4. Pepsi: Crystal Pepsi Returns, 2015
Agency: The Barbarian Group
They've also been fully willing to make fun of themselves, making their sudden pulling of their most recent ad a surprise to many. This was definitely the case with this nostalgic piece starring a man discovering a secret floor in the Pepsi building where people were still working on famous flop Pepsi Crystal.
5. Diet Pepsi: Agent - Jackie Chan, 2006
Agency: DDB New York
As well as spoofing themselves, the cola brand is not above throwing a little soda shade at its rival, Coca-Cola. The best of the so-called Pepsi vs. Coke spots sees Diet Coke playing a stunt double of Diet Pepsi in fictional Jackie Chan film Kung-Fu Can (which, to be fair, is no more ridiculous a film idea than Chan films like The Tuxedo...)
6. Pepsi: Gladiator, 2004
Agency: BBDO Paris
Female gladiators? Singing a Queen song? Drinking Pepsi? Anachronistic yes, but what could possibly be more fun than Britney Spears, Pink and Beyoncé at their prime dressed in armour singing We Will Rock You for emperor Enrique Iglesias, mercifully not singing.
7. Pepsi: Pinball, 2007
Agency: BBDO NY
One thing that Pepsi has that Coke lacks is its brand logo, which equally communicates with or without words. This is the basis of Pinball, which turns the circular Pepsi logo into a sphere, in turn turning the city into a giant pinball game.
8. Pepsi Nex Zero: The Peach Boy, 2014
Agency: Tugboat Tokyo
Promoting their Pepsi Nex Zero soda in Japan, the company turned to folklore for an epic multi-part campaign that stold the story of the eponymous peach boy and his helpers Monkey, Pheasant and Dog. Oh, and Jude Law's in it too for some reason.
9. Pepsi: Pepsi Through the Decades, 2001
Agency: BBDO NY
Although Pepsi's best work came from BBDO NY in the '80s, '90s and early '00s, the brand has a history of TV ads dating back to the '50s. This was celebrated in this gleeful trip through five decades of advertising starring Britney Spears.
10. Pepsi: Pepsi Generation, 1984
Agency: BBDO NY
When people talk about the most iconic Pepsi act, however, Britney and Beyoncé pale in comparison to the King, Michael Jackson. Although the brand partnership is infamous for accidentally setting fire to MJ's hair in one video shoot, the work speaks for itself, especially the earliest spot in which Jackson makes new Pepsi-influenced lyrics for Billie Jean.
Click here for more commentary on the latest Pepsi ad from creatives across the world.
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- Agency Tugboat
- Agency AMV BBDO
- Agency BBDO Paris
- Agency BBDO New York
- Agency DDB New York
- Agency The Barbarian Group
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